James Creek Stewardship

Children, youth and adults have long been stewarding James Creek, which winds through the Children’s Forest and is the largest watershed by area on Cortes Island. Chum and coho salmon, cutthroat trout (blue-listed), sculpin, stickleback and red-legged frogs (blue-listed) find homes in James Creek and surrounding wetlands. 

Each fall, spawning salmon return to their natal James Creek to push upstream to dig their redds in the gravel and lay eggs. Youth streamkeepers conduct bank walks to count and document spawners,  contributing to the overall tally on Cortes and Vancouver Island for Fisheries & Oceans. 

Look! What did Tosh find?
The side fin of a salmon
A bird had lunch here

salmon skeletons along James Creek
we practise our skills, interpretor learning
to be natural history guides

Early logging practises scoured glacial deposits of spawning gravel. An ambitious spawning gravel project to expand salmon spawing beds in James Creek was initiated in 2021, 2022 and completed in 2024. Initially, stream surveys and mapping potential spawning sites were conducted in conjunction with Department of Fisheries & Oceans.

60 volunteers moved 15,000 + pounds of spawning gravel in 700+ buckets over the 3-year project, with Children's Forest alumni completing phase 3 of the James Creek Restoration Project in 2024. Human-made salmon redds were built in the creek to increase spawning potential for chum salmon, and 10,000 chum eggs were placed in the redds for hatching in the spring (2025).